Suffolk County has collected $3.8 million earmarked for a new fund to pay for countywide wastewater improvement projects since a sales tax hike took effect March 1, according to County Executive Edward P. Romaine. Joe Werkmeister reports in NEWSDAY that the total generated through an eighth of a percentage point increase in sales tax, approved by voters in November, will help fund projects that officials say will improve water quality and drive economic growth.“We’re depending on that because state and federal funding has not come through,” Romaine said yesterday. Last month, the Suffolk County Legislature unanimously adopted a resolution to appoint 21 members to the new Suffolk County Water Quality Restoration Board of Trustees, which is tasked with overseeing the fund and recommending projects for approval.That board will prepare a Subwatersheds Wastewater Implementation Plan that lists proposed projects eligible for funding and outlines how each project would improve water quality, according to county code. While the code lists a May 1, 2025, deadline for the plan to be submitted to the county executive, Romaine said Tuesday that has been extended into July and possibly August.Funds would be available to use for water quality projects in 2026, officials previously said.The tax could generate an estimated $3 billion by 2060 when the fund expires.The number of outdated septic systems in Suffolk County totals about 380,000, Newsday previously reported.***In a show of unified opposition to the even-year elections law, dozens of Long Island elected officials gathered outside Farmingdale Village Hall yesterday to slam the law and New York State for enacting it. Nassau and Suffolk counties, joined many other municipalities in the state in a lawsuit to block the law, enacted by the state in 2023, intended to force all local elections outside of New York City to take place in even-numbered years. Denise Civiletti reports on Riverheadlocal.com that the stated purpose of the law was to increase voter participation in local elections, which are almost always held in odd-numbered years and see significantly lower turnout. Proponents of the law argue that aligning local elections with contests for president, Congress, and the state legislature are on the ballot will draw more attention—and more voters—to local issues.Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman and Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine were joined by officials from Long Island towns and villages - nearly all Republicans — to slam the law as a politically motivated power grab by a state government run amuck under Democratic one-party rule and domination by New York City.The officials who spoke Tuesday afternoon decried the law as overreach. They said moving local elections to even years would result in local issues being eclipsed by federal and state issues and local candidates essentially getting lost on a very lengthy ballot that will overwhelm many voters.***The public is invited to the 48th annual meeting of the League of Women Voters of the Hamptons, Shelter Island and North Fork, this coming Sunday, May 18, at 2 p.m. in the East Hampton Library, 159 Main Street in East Hampton Village. The guest speaker is Emily Mastaler, the new chief administrative officer of Stony Brook Southampton Hospital, who will speak about the hospital and its new emergency services building in East Hampton. She will be introduced by Valerie King, Ph.D., of East Hampton, chair of the League’s Health Committee. Refreshments are also on the agenda. Reservations may be made by calling 631-324-4637 or the East Hampton Library at 631-324-0222, ext. 3.***Consumer prices on Long Island and the N.Y.C. metropolitan area edged up last month as the higher costs of meat, eggs and residential rent were only partially offset by plummeting...

LI elected officials push back against even-year elections law